COWBOYS 34, RAIDERS 21

Art Spander, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Monday, November 20, 1995

OAKLAND - One thing America hardly needs is another Deion Sanders communique. But the man is irrepressible, not to mention impressive. He runs sweeps. He covers deep. He tells jokes. He gives commendations.

The Raiders' failure Sunday may be attributed in part to not being ready for Prime Time, as in Deion's self-proclaimed label. At least they weren't ready on a critical offensive series after the Cowboys, en route to a 34-21 victory, had taken a 7-0 lead on Troy Aikman's 17-yard touchdown pass to Michael Irvin.

After the Raiders' return of the ensuing kickoff was stopped inside the 20, quarterback Jeff Hostetler went deep on first down. And Deion went deeper.

The ball was thrown to Raghib Ismail. He's known as Rocket. What's faster than a Rocket? A Deion, that's what. Ismail had a couple of steps on Sanders, but nobody closes like Deion. The way Deion made the interception, over the shoulder, you'd have sworn he was the primary receiver.

Sanders made the pick on the Dallas 37, waved the ball around like some leather trophy, just to make sure everybody in the third deck at the Oakland Coliseum knew what had happened, and then, strutting, juking and flying, returned the interception 34 yards.

"They've got a hell of an ego," chortled Sanders, who knows a bit about egos, alluding to the Raiders' strategy.

"But I got a lot of respect for them to try me."

In the second quarter, the Cowboys tried him - on offense. Sanders got the ball on an end-around from the Raiders' 13. Oakland linebacker Rob Fredrickson caught him after a gain of a yard, lifted him off the ground as his feet kept spinning like some cartoon character's, and dumped him down unceremoniously.

That was a strange looking rushing column for the Cowboys at the half. Emmitt Smith 12 carries for 45 yards, Deion Sanders one carry for 1 yard.

On defense, where Sanders is expected to earn the bulk of his $35 million, he moved to the Raiders receiver who lined up on the side of the tight end, whether that man was Ismail, Tim Brown or Darryl Hobbs. And although the Raiders completed 27 passes for 309 yards, they had to throw 55 times.

"And great receivers are going to catch some," Sanders said. "They've got some great receivers. Me? I was all right today. I'm the most critical person of myself."

"Somebody back there on defense who can make plays like that," said Jones, "that's a confidence builder."

Jones didn't even mind Sanders' hot-dogging.

"I don't really like to see him hold the ball out there," said Jones, "but if I get to (see) him do it after an interception, then it's OK."

Sanders said he was holding up the ball not out of arrogance but out of appreciation. "I was just giving the fans a little something, keeping them involved in the game," Sanders said. "Other than the fans at the Dallas Cowboy stadium, these fans are the most unbelievable."

When Hostetler, who injured his left shoulder after a sack in the second quarter, was replaced by 40-year-old Vince Evans, Sanders took another approach to defense.

"Vince is great, the old man still throwing," said Sanders. "I got a lot of love for him. He came up to center one time and looked at me, and I looked at him, and it was like, "Yeah, come on,' and shook his head like, "I'm coming.' I got a lot of respect for that dude." &lt;